Sebastian Remøy

Sebastian heads Kreab’s global public affairs consultancy and is leading at group level on Kreab’s Brexit related advisory and support services to clients across the globe. He also leads the Trade, Competition and Digital Practice in Brussels. He is currently participating in the London School of Economics’ Commission on the Future of Britain in Europe and is the Chair (Europe) for the Transatlantic Business Council (TABC) task force on Brexit. Previously, at the EEA Coordination Unit of the EFTA Secretariat he was a senior member of the team coordinating Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein’s participation in the Single Market. Prior to that, he was Senior Trade Advisor and Deputy Head of the Commercial 3

Section at the US Embassy in Oslo, and before that was Senior Trade Specialist at the U.S. Embassy in London. Sebastian also worked in Washington, firstly at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and then in the U.S. Congress advising House and Senate committees on the EU and Japan's trade and competitiveness strategy.

If 2016 was annus horribilus for the EU, is 2017 looking like it might be any better? The prudent pundit would not touch that question with a barge poll. The saying goes “a week is a long time in politics”. These days a week is an eon.

The last month has been dominated by the passage of the Brexit Bill through the House of Lords, not least as the Government does not have a majority in that chamber so has to work harder to get its way.

Ok, so we’re not suggesting a Brexit deal is as easy as deciding how you like your boiled eggs for breakfast. But on a serious note, we’ve noticed a significant increase in recent days in the use of the terms “soft” and “hard” when it comes to Brexit.